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The Debate Over the Constitution

September 4th, 2012

As much as our forefathers loved the thought of starting a brand new country, there sure was a lot of debate about how to actually do it.

Rewind to 1787…

The Articles of Confederation were holding America together, but they were never meant to be a permanent blueprint for the country. Instead, our forefathers knew they had to come up with a new document that protected our liberties. Remember, the Declaration of Independence turned colonial politics upside down (http://ourvoicecounts.com/2012/08/29/the-radical-declaration-of-independence/). Now, it was time to come up with a way to make the Declaration of Independence’s statements feasible.

To do it, delegates created a system of checks and balances and called it the Constitution. It explained how the three branches of government were all designed to keep each other in line, and how the states were allowed to reign in the federal government if necessary. That way, America’s government could never grow to be too big or too oppressive.

But before it could be ratified, the Constitution created quite the debate!

There were two types of people back then — the Federalists (who thought there were enough safeguards in place to protect the people from an overreaching government) and the Anti-Federalists (who thought the Constitution didn’t go far enough to protect the people). They argued back and forth for months, and eventually ratified it.

Now, fast forward to today…

The first 10 amendments haven’t been touched since 1791. Among other things, the Bill of Rights has protected our speech, our right to bear arms, our right against unlawful search and seizure, and our right to a fair trial for more than 220 years.

But now, many of these rights are in danger. There’s talk of abolishing the 2nd Amendment altogether. A proposed law called SOPA threatened the 1st Amendment. At the end of 2011, the National Defense Authorization Act seemingly violated the 6th amendment.

The debate over the Constitution continues today. But, now, it seems like we’re trying to get rid of it!

The "Audit the FED” Bill, HR 459, which calls for a full audit of the Federal Reserve System-- including its lending facilities and critical monetary policy operations passed overwhelmingly by a bipartisan vote of 327-98.(PRWeb August 22, 2012)Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/ron-paul/audit-the-fed/prweb9820378.htm